Commons
Debate
11 December 2025
Foreign Interference
First, I congratulate the hon. Member for Lewes (James MacCleary) on securing today’s very important and timely debate. We live in unprecedented times, in which those who wish to undermine this great nation are doing so daily, and on multiple fronts. The need to co-operate more closely with our glob…
Commons
Debate
9 December 2025
Railways Bill
The east coast main line is a fantastic example of where privatisation has worked. Open access operators such as Hull Trains, Lumo and Grand Central are competing with the franchisee and keeping prices down and service levels up. Does my right hon. Friend agree that the Bill does nothing to protect …
Commons
Oral Questions
Cabinet Office
4 December 2025
Topical Questions
Tomorrow will mark a year to the day since the Government launched the plan for change, to great fanfare, with its milestones, its mission boards, and its dashboards that never materialised. We have now found out that the five mission boards have been deleted from the latest list of Cabinet Committe…
Commons
Westminster Hall
3 December 2025
Local Media
Does the Minister agree that excellent local titles such as the Bridlington Echo , the Driffield & Wolds Weekly and The Holderness & Hornsey Gazette need support? We need to ensure that the income stream from local authority statutory notices continues, so that such thriving local titles con…
Commons
Oral Questions
Church Commissioners
27 November 2025
2 contributions
Vicars: Rural Parishes
5. What steps the Church of England is taking to increase the number of vicars in rural parishes.
I thank the Leader of the House for that answer, and please can he pass my best wishes on to the Second Church Estates Commissioner? In my area, 26 churches are covered by just five priests, and only three of those priests are paid, so I hope that the Leader of the House will join me in thanking all…
Commons
Oral Questions
27 November 2025
2 contributions
Gambling Duty
11. What discussions she has had with the Chancellor of the Exchequer on gambling duties.
The Chancellor’s announcements in yesterday’s Budget in relation to gambling duty could cost the industry up to 16,000 jobs, largely in the high- tech part of that industry, and move £6 billion of gambling stakes into the black market. I know that the Secretary of State is a very reasonable individu…
Commons
Proceedings
24 November 2025
Maccabi Tel Aviv FC: Away Fans Ban
The whole House recognises the challenge posed by football hooliganism, but anyone with the slightest knowledge of football would accept that this hooliganism is restricted to a very small minority of fans of clubs and countries across the world. Will the Minister work with colleagues in the Home Of…
Commons
Proceedings
20 November 2025
Russian Ship Yantar
In the light of this recent escalation, what specific and immediate steps is the Minister taking to ensure that UK armed forces are equipped both to protect critical underwater infrastructure and to respond rapidly and effectively to direct threats from Russia and others?
Commons
Oral Questions
20 November 2025
2 contributions
Motorists
13. What discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on the adequacy of support for motorists.
Does the Secretary of State agree that the introduction of a pay-per-mile charge for motorists in next week’s Budget would disproportionately impact rural constituencies such as mine, because people are more reliant on cars to get about, and represent yet another slap in the face from this Governmen…
Commons
Oral Questions
18 November 2025
2 contributions
Large-scale Solar Farms
11. What recent discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on the development of large-scale solar farms.
Given that the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has yet to publish its land use framework or its 25-year farming road map, would it be prudent for the Government to pause all major solar farm applications until such time as they have a joined-up strategy for energy production on ag…
Commons
Proceedings
5 November 2025
Points of Order
On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. The recent Cabinet Office annual accounts show that the departed Cabinet Secretary and the permanent secretary collectively received a quarter of a million pounds in golden goodbyes. I asked the Minister for the Cabinet Office the rationale for such a use o…
Commons
Debate
4 November 2025
Supporting High Streets
Andy Rafter, owner of the award-winning Rafters greengrocers in Driffield, was telling me just this morning that the bill he has received as a result of his national insurance contribution increase is £30,000 a year. Does my right hon. Friend agree that that deters investment, deters future employme…
Commons
Oral Questions
Cabinet Office
23 October 2025
Topical Questions
The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster has just come to the Dispatch Box and said that we have done a new trade deal with the European Union, which I think is news to both the Prime Minister and Brussels. The only thing this Government have done so far in terms of EU relations is to sell out our f…
Commons
Ministerial Statement
22 October 2025
Heathrow: National Airports Review
I am and always will be a proud Yorkshireman, but I lived in west London for a number of years, so I am aware of the diverse range of views on Heathrow expansion. I certainly do not subscribe to the luddite nimbyism of the hon. Member for Hammersmith and Chiswick (Andy Slaughter), but may I ask the …
Commons
Oral Questions
Scotland
22 October 2025
2 contributions
Inheritance Tax Relief: Agriculture Sector
1. What assessment he has made of the potential impact of changes to inheritance tax relief on Scotland’s agricultural sector.
I welcome the new ministerial team to the Dispatch Box, and particularly the Secretary of State, who is back as Secretary of State for Scotland after nearly 20 years. Farmers watching that response will be thinking, “What a load of tosh!” What representations have the Secretary of State and the Mini…
Commons
Westminster Hall
9 September 2025
2 contributions
Free-to-air Broadcasting: Cricket Participation
I thank the hon. Gentleman for securing this debate. Does he agree that another problem with the lack of four-day county cricket during the August period is that it is pushed to the margins, which impacts on batting development for future test players, as they are playing in the colder conditions of…
Does the hon. Member agree that it is now 20 years since the last televised Test series—the greatest Test series of all time—and that since then participation has gradually declined? Is that not clearly an indication that fewer people are being exposed to the joys of this fantastic game?
Commons
Proceedings
4 September 2025
Business of the House
Charlie Dodds from Driffield in my constituency is just one year old and suffers from a rare mitochondrial condition. Will the Leader of the House join me in paying tribute to his parents, Harrison and Ellie, for the £35,000 they have raised for research into this condition? Will she commit Governme…
Commons
Oral Questions
4 September 2025
Moorland Protection
I join the hon. Member for Scarborough and Whitby (Alison Hume) in paying tribute to the firefighters, farmers, gamekeepers and everybody who has taken part in fighting the moorland fires in North Yorkshire, just over the border from my constituency. Does the Minister agree about the huge importance…
Commons
Debate
3 September 2025
4 contributions
Hospitality Sector
The hospitality industry is often the unsung hero of our local communities. We often do not appreciate it enough and we take it for granted. It is everywhere: it is in every village and every town, and in every corner of our constituencies. This opportunity to debate the importance of the hospitalit…
It is not for me to say whether the Minister will or will not, but he should do so, and he should be shouting much more loudly on behalf of the hospitality sector.
+2 more contributions in this session
Commons
Ministerial Statement
2 September 2025
Group-based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse
On 6 August, the Minister described certain councils that do not believe that they have a problem with grooming gangs as “idiots”. Can she explain if that also applies to the Government, given the enormous pressure it took for them to implement this inquiry and the disparaging comments previously ma…
Commons
Oral Questions
Housing, Communities and Local Government
14 July 2025
Topical Questions
T6. On that note, many of my constituents living on new freehold developments such as Mortimer Park in Driffield would like to see residents being given the power to strip those unaccountable estate management firms of their responsibility for shared space and let the local authority adopt that la…
Commons
Oral Questions
10 July 2025
Topical Questions
Mr Speaker, as you are well aware, Bridlington is the lobster capital of Europe, so there is understandable outrage at the recent Government decision to sell out the UK fishing industry for the next 12 years in return for a sanitary and phytosanitary deal that is yet to be negotiated. Is that just a…
Commons
Oral Questions
7 July 2025
2 contributions
Asylum Accommodation
7. What steps her Department is taking to reduce the use of asylum accommodation.
People are rightly concerned by reports that the Home Office is buying hotels to house asylum seekers. That appears to be completely at odds with the Government’s manifesto pledge to end the use of hotels. Will the Home Secretary or her Minister confirm to the House whether those reports are true or…
Commons
Debate
18 June 2025
Crime and Policing Bill
The hon. Member has just painted a complex legislative picture. Does he not agree that there was a need for the 2022 legislation, because all the measures that he has just read out simply were not working?